I find the HTS useful, It also acts as a 1.5 converter while leaving the closest focussing distance the same. The 13mm and the 26 I use the most.

When doing things like rings the HTS is of limited use, you cannot get the while thing in focus. Something like the stackshot is very useful in that case. For things like necklaces, it is of more use. The range of movement of the HTS is limited but in cases useful, in the other cases I use stackshot ( naturally you are not always after the perception of extended dof)

On focus you can use cmd or shift with the + and - signs, one of those is the fine tune combination.

I have suggested that Hasselblad incorporate auto DoF stacking into Phocus, and this would make the StackShot unnecessary, but it give you the option of focusing without changing the magnification - please post some pictures.

Focus adjustment from within Phocus exists, see this extract from the Phocus manual. The feature works outside of Live Video as well. Very very useful for focus stacking. Here is a tip for you if you use Photoshop, when you taken a number of images in Phocus make all the basic adjustments, including sharpening at this stage and then select all the images and export them as 'layers psd' then use Photoshop to align and blend the images, enjoy!

With tethered H-system cameras, make an initial auto focus, either directlyon the camera or by pressing A on the Camera tool. Press the Live Videobutton1 to activate.• Click on the ‘-’ 2 or ‘+’ 4 buttons on the tool (not + or - on the keyboard)to alter the focus.• Hold down / Ctrl and click on the ‘-’ or ‘+’ buttons for finer focusadjustments.• Hold down Alt / Alt and click on the ‘-’ or ‘+’ buttons for larger focusadjustments.Press ^(Ctrl)+ + + a / Ctrl++ a to activate the Audio Feedback functionthat signals when the focus setting is at its optimum

Is Helicon Focus produce better (Macro) result than stacking images in Photoshop?Can Helicon Focus directly read Hasselblad FFF or 3FR RAW files?Is Helicon software still in development? Is it a one man (personal) project?What license did you buy and why?

I'm interested in a Hasselblad solution, even if it a bit limited comparing to technical cameras, which have their limitations, too.

ThanksEvgeny

If you oriented towards a Hasselblad solution because you want easier focusing with a mirror and viewfinder you might want to consider a Fuji gx680 to use your back on. With the long rails you can make all the lenses from the 50 to the 300 into macro lenses and all with tilt and shift.

Kapture Group makes an adapter kite with a Maxwell precision optics focusing screen.

It would give you the tilt shift of the Hasselblad HTS adapter, but with macro.

For example the Fuji with the 100mm f4 with the 80mm rail extensions at closest focus will give you a subject area with a 6x8 negative of about 4x5 cm.It would be about half that with a Hasselblad back.

Manual focusing is quite easy with the help of the moving loup waist level finder.

Some Fuji gx680 macros here: ... they are shot for shallow depth of field.

I found out that the more files you make the better final image will be. The problem is that I find Helicon Focus a bit slow when I put 10-15 Nikon D800E files to process. It's not that slow, but if you have a lot of products to do in short period of time it really slows you down. I also found Helicon Focus struggling with objects with smooth surface, when there is lack of strong texture. The software can't figure out what's sharp there. In these situations I draw a line with a black marker pen all the way down the object to help the software find sharp parts. The same way you put something with high contrast in front of an object to focus easier. And than I remove the line in Photoshop.For everyday use I stick with Photoshop manual compositing of 2-5 files. I use Helicon only for really specially important jobs because it's slow.

Is Helicon Focus produce better (Macro) result than stacking images in Photoshop?Can Helicon Focus directly read Hasselblad FFF or 3FR RAW files?Is Helicon software still in development? Is it a one man (personal) project?What license did you buy and why?

yes, Helicon Focus produces in general much better results than PS. I bought the 64bit (macos) version which cost me somewhere around 200euros I think. i bought that version because I needed to be able to use it with the large tiff files that come out of Phocus.

It is a one man development I think or at least a very small team. I was one of the first to use helicon with the stackshot and MF. You can tell Helicon you use a stackshot and it could do a sequence from out of Helicon, this only worked for Nikons and Canons, using a MF setup would crash Helicon. Now you can at least command the stackshot from out Helicon with a MF setup as well. However I prefer using the command box that comes wih the Stackshot setup and have the images come into Phocus, I than have them processed out of Phocus (can be done automatically) into a folder and implrt them manually into Helicon. i have recently done appr. 50 rings that way and it doesn't consume too much of your time extra. If you do really big volumes You could automate it further.

In my setup Helicon is pretty fast (12core,3.0ghz machine,48gb of main memory and a 6 drive SSD RAID5 as workdrive).

I recently downloaded another update for Helicon so I reckon it still gets development.

From my own experience with the HTS I would say similar things to Dustbak. The movements have limited use when you are very close. You are unlikely to get all parts of a ring sharp anyway when you are very close in but you will have a little more control over which parts are sharpest.

With chains and necklaces laid flat you may not have enough tilt unless you pull back.

Stacking is good if you accept you will have to retouch wherever a near edge is in front of a rear part of the subject (but you will be retouching anyway).

I looked at the GX680/100mm but from the information I could find I thought there may not be enough magnification for small pieces. Also its a lot of bulk to get close into a small

Fred, your figures suggest a maximum magnification of 1.5x for the GX680/100mm, if I have understood correctly. Is that correct?

Is Helicon Focus produce better (Macro) result than stacking images in Photoshop?

Hi Evgeny,

In my experience it is, and it offers much more control over the process should that be needed.

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Can Helicon Focus directly read Hasselblad FFF or 3FR RAW files?

I'm not sure, you'd have to check that with them, but it does allow to control the Stackshot rail with a companion program (Helicon Remote Desktop) to the Professional or X64 versions. Helicon Remote also allows to directly steer the focusing of a number of Canon and Nikon models.

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Is Helicon software still in development? Is it a one man (personal) project?

Yes, they recently added another method of Focus detection, are pretty good at solving user issues, and have an open ear for improvement suggestions, they implemented one of my suggestions (Depthmap output). I think it is a two man (Danylo Kozub and Stas Yatsenko) operation, but I could be wrong.

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What license did you buy and why?

X64, large files, free updates, and I've enjoyed them for many years already.

There is also another Focus Stacking application that offers high quality, and that's Zerene Stacker (AFAIK a one man, Rik Littlefield, project).

Helicon Focus uses DCraw as Raw converter, which means it should be able to handle files from Hasselblad CFV / H3D / H4D / V96C , and it can also convert DNG, to name a few formats. However, I prefer to input either TIFF or JPEG images because that allows me to do things like CA and fringing corrections before stacking.

From my own experience with the HTS I would say similar things to Dustbak. The movements have limited use when you are very close. You are unlikely to get all parts of a ring sharp anyway when you are very close in but you will have a little more control over which parts are sharpest.

With chains and necklaces laid flat you may not have enough tilt unless you pull back.

Stacking is good if you accept you will have to retouch wherever a near edge is in front of a rear part of the subject (but you will be retouching anyway).

I looked at the GX680/100mm but from the information I could find I thought there may not be enough magnification for small pieces. Also its a lot of bulk to get close into a small

Fred, your figures suggest a maximum magnification of 1.5x for the GX680/100mm, if I have understood correctly. Is that correct?

RegardsTony

PM me your email and I can send you a PDF of the system brochure with all the lens info.

For the 100mm with 80mm rails:

45cmSubject area photographed with a 6x8 negative is 4.1 x 5.5cmShould be about 2 x 2.5 for a 645 sensor.

It is also possible to modify a Fuji gx680 for even longer rails. The communication with the lens is through a flat cable that is pretty standard.

I'll take a photo of the flat cable latter today and post it.

The bulk of the camera could be an issue. Both the size and the hight of the lens from the rails due to the tilt shift mechanism.

However tilt shift is a great thing to have for still lifes and product.